The Star Wars universe is always ripe for video game opportunities, and this time, the franchise has finally unveiled its high-octane fusion of sci-fi and racing with Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Star Wars: Galactic Racer is set to arrive sometime in 2026.
The game was officially announced by developer Fuse Games and publisher Secret Mode in partnership with Lucasfilm Games at The Game Awards 2025. As you might have expected, it’s about podracing, which was introduced or popularized by the Star Wars franchise back in The Phantom Menace alongside Anakin Skywalker’s introduction. You’ll thus be partaking as a podracer yourself, supposedly on the planet of Jakku.
Podracing, however, is a different beast compared to the usual racing games you know, as it involves explosions, aggressive and intended collisions, and of course, pilot or racer deaths by the dozens. Based on the information from the trailer, it supposedly takes place after the fall of the Galactic Empire. The Empire banned the bloodsport during its reign, which is why some business-minded aliens yearn to bring it back.
Customization and vehicular variety (and carnage) appear to be central mechanics as well, just like in the films and shows. Players are presented with different types and sizes of speeders (bikes) and landspeeders (cars), except that the wheels are repulsorlifts.
The Devs Have a Good Racing Game Pedigree
The kicker in Star Wars: Galactic Racer’s development is that Fuse Games is comprised of former Criterion developers. For those who are unaware, Criterion is famous for its Burnout games, where you can wreck cars as much as you can push their speed, making it unique as far as racing games go. They were also responsible for some Need for Speed games.
Criterion was notably working with publisher Electronic Arts (EA), which is why many fans have a negative sentiment towards EA for effectively killing or shelving the Burnout franchise after Burnout Paradise, despite Criterion’s willingness for sequels. Now, some of Criterion’s developers have moved on and formed Fuse Games.
Hence, it’s only fair for Burnout fans to feel that Star Wars: Galactic Racer is some form of spiritual successor to the Burnout franchise (which EA still owns). Poetically enough, EA also used to exclusively own the license for the Star Wars video games, and it only expired in 2023, allowing other video game devs to create their own Star Wars games with Lucasfilm Games partnerships.
Lucasfilm Games, meanwhile, is more than optimistic about Star Wars: Galactic Racer, “Lucasfilm Games has a long and successful relationship with many of the key leaders at Fuse Games from their time at Criterion, including their work on Star Wars Battlefront II Starfighter Mode. In addition to the great work on our projects, they have been industry leaders in some of the most beloved racing franchises in Need for Speed and Burnout. I can’t think of any other studio better suited to bring Star Wars racing back to our fans.”
